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aubol006: November 2011 Archives

Recently in class, we have talked about the Intelligence Quotient, a score that is used to assess the amount of knowledge that one has. 100 being the average, 140 being the approximate number for "geniuses," and about 80 and under being mental retardation.

If you would like to get your IQ assessed, I recommend going to a psychologist, who will administer an IQ test. IQ tests ask questions in the areas of logic, linguistics, and other abstract areas of thinking.

If you are like me and you don't have time to go see a psychologist (or know where to find one for that matter) to administer a test, you may have google searched "Online IQ testing." When I was younger, I used to believe these were accurate assessments of my IQ, but now I am aware that it is all pseudoscience.

Here you can find an online IQ test that I recently took (actually 5 minutes ago as a matter of fact) that you only need to enter your name and email address and answer 30 short questions. I received a score of 159. This would mean that I am, frankly, a genius.

As much as I want to believe I am a genius, sadly I know I am not. These IQ tests are not accurate at all, they are not replicable (on a different online test I received a 120), because they do not go in depth. 30 questions in 10 minutes cannot even come close to evaluating anything, these tests are simply scams to try to make money and to advertise.

Recently in class we have discussed the impact of violent television shows and violent video games on young developing minds.

This link will bring you to an article discussing the topic of violent video games and their effect on adolescents. The article says that repeated violent actions on the game acts as a reinforcer, causing the adolescent to be more prone to be aggressive. The article also discusses that by playing "first-person" games, the adolescent begins to think like the character they are controlling and therefore they become more aggressive.
The article makes valid points. A child playing a first person shooter gets to feel like they are character. Whatever decisions they make cause the player either harm or reward. Because of this, if in the game the child causes harm to someone, but is rewarded because of it, if he/she is faced with a similar situation in real life, they may decide to cause harm again because they believe it will bring reward.

Although there are many studies showing that aggression and time spent playing video games go hand in hand, these results are merely correlational. The correlation vs causation scientific principle tells us that although these two things are correlated, it does not mean that video games cause aggression.